January 13, 2019 - Bucking a disturbing early season trend of not closing games, Georgetown sealed the deal yesterday, in dramatic fashion; head coach Pat Ewing’s guys took down the Friars 96-90 in front of 10,113 Capital One Arena fans.

And they did so in dramatic fashion, with players old and young making key contributions.

First the old guy, Jessie Govan. A senior center, Govan accounted for game highs in points (33) and rebounds (14). Additionally, he picked up his defensive effort, helping slow down Friar sophomore forward Nate Watson, who scored 12 of his 21 points during the first 20 minutes.

“I’m tired of seeing his ass. I’m tired of him. I can’t wait until he leaves” semi-joshed PC head coach Ed Cooley on what Govan brings to the table. “Good player, he’s a tough matchup at that position, he can stretch the floor, he’s got a great touch. They utilize him in the right way. He’s developed a lot. He’s a tough matchup for out league”.

Ewing acknowledged the career high in points Govan produced, yet focused on his other work, noting “What I’m impressed with is the 14 rebounds and four blocks. And he got some great rebounds in crunch time, winning time when it was time to win the game”.

Govan on his performance: “I don’t think I had a great first half and coach kind of got into me a little bit. So I had to pick it up and I knew my teammates depended on me to have a big second half, and I was able to do that. The momentum carried over to overtime”.

In terms of young Hoyas, multiple players stepped up, including sophomore Jamorko Pickett (six points, five rebounds, four blocks) - who played admirable on defense on junior PC wing Alpha Diallo - plus Grayson Carter (six points), the freshman G’Town forward that came off the pine to hit both of his three balls along with rookie forward Josh LeBlanc, whose 11 rebounds and scrappy play were invaluable.

Yet two stood out, the starting backcourt of point guard James Akinjo and two-man Mac McClung. Each pulled down four rebounds, while the latter scored 16 points, the former 20, while also dishing a game best nine assists.

Each also literally kept the Hoyas competing.

First was McClung’s buzzer beating, three ball banker at the end regulation, a play that started in Providence’s end of the court. Cooley applauded McClung as “we tried to foul, credit the young man for getting open and avoiding our players”.

When asked about the shot, one which knotted scoring at 73, McClung, who came back after missing several games due to an ankle injury, shared “Coach drew it up and I caught the ball. I just kind of…Jessie was wide open, maybe I should have hit him. But I just shot it with confidence. And coach always says he loves that in a player…I believed in myself”.

Akinjo’s heroics came four minutes and 57 seconds later, as he also pulled up for three, the Hoyas then down 86-83 with only three seconds in overtime.

Cooley demurred when asked was there a blown defensive assignment that left Akinjo wide open, as “I don’t know, I have to watch the tape. I know there was a bad communication”.

“They’re growing up right before our eyes. During the season they’re going to have a lot of responsibilities, and they’ve responded pretty well” opined Govan of his young teammates. “I know Mac…today he proved again why we put the ball in his hands so much and why we expect him to make plays.

“And James, he’s getting better every game, you know of just getting other people involved and making the right play for himself and other people.

" I think they both are doing great”.

Senior guard Drew Edwards came off the bench to score a career high 19 points for Providence, which shot 42.3% overall and 33.3% on three pointers. Diallo led his squad with 24 points and 13 caroms, while senior wing Isaiah Jackson chipped in 13 points.

The Friars, now 10-5 overall and 0-2 in BIG EAST play, welcome Seton Hall on Tuesday, a 6:30p EST tilt.

Georgetown (11-5,1-2), logged 45.3% shooting from the field and 31% on three pointers. The win broke an eight-game losing streak to PC, a point Ewing seemed to somewhat reject, saying “I can’t worry about what happened in the past. All I know it was a great win to get. It was a tough ball game, we had to go into double overtime to be able to come away with it. And I’m proud of the guys”.

Govan indicated the victory “feels good”, since “Personally this is my first win over Providence”, then joked “And Mac is now undefeated against Providence, so that’s cool”.

The senior also was happy his team closed a hard fought game, saying “I think it was good to finally do that. Last week we weren’t able to do that against St. johns. Xavier we had another game we had a big lead and let it go”.

Versus the Friars “we weren’t down that much, but had to kind of crawl back into the game” he continued. “And we were able to do that, show some heart. When we were down three in both overtimes, guys were able to step up and hit shots”.

Another chance to do so exists Tuesday for Govan et al, when high scoring Marcus Howard and the Marquette Golden Eagles fly into Capital One for an 830p EST start.